RPGWatch - The Whole Game in My Hand #2
 

Mike Anderson takes a second trip into the world of handheld RPG gaming with the latest The Whole Game in My Hand, bringing us up to date with the latest releases and the outlook for each of the handheld platforms. Also included is a full review of Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony for PSP. Here's a snip:
More information.

I'm getting a DS lite, the primary reason being I do quite a bit of flying and I figure it's got to be better than the in-flight entertainment of movies I have already seen.

I will pick up FF3 for sure, looking forward to your review of the next lunar/pokemon game.

Thank you for taking the time to write this up Mike :)
We have a DS, and I am embarrased to say it does not get used a lot. :blush:
unfortunately most of the games you mentioned just don't ever hit the shelves here, the stores rather put up umpteen crappy movie and tv-show tie ins :(
Even the FF ones don't seem to show up… but I'll keep looking and hoping :)

I saw you din't mention Mazes of Fate… is that one not due out soon, or already out or something?

Never a problem - I like this stuff :)

Isn't that the way - those things *do* sell big, and they are an easy choice for store buyers to allocate space for - quick sell-through and then replace with the next SpongeBob / YuGiOh / etc … (not including Pokemon since those games are actually pretty good)
What about Amazon / eBay / etc?
This was written before Christmas … I only knew of Mazes of Fate as a vague 'upcoming' game back then … but now that I have ordered it (should be here today, actually) I will be able to dig in and play!

We don't have a credit card. I do order some stuff (like the Daz stuff) online via my mother-in-law's creditcard, and then send the money over to her in the UK, but I do not want to overuse that option. It also means it costs more for us, since we have to add sending the money and the exchange rate to it.
I might use it for Mazes of Fate though, if it turns out to be good. ;)

Ah, that explains that. Lucky you, getting it today :) A friend of mine is sending me a copy of Fate (diablo clone for the PC) from the States which is due either today or tomorrow, so I'm keeping an eye on the postman at the moment as well :)

I am always amazed when I see that … I have had some source of credit since college in the mid-80's … of course, keeping it under control is always the trick ;)

Love that game - I did do a review of Fate at GamerDad when it first came out.

What about getting a Visa/Mastercard "debit" card — one that doesn't offer credit and otherwise acts like an EFTPOS card, apart from transacting through the Visa/MC system?

Due to my husband's bad credit history we are simply not eligable, besides that, due to (mentioned) bad spending history I'm not sure I'd want one in the house ;)

One of the reasons I've been after it for ages, it keeps getting mentioned at Gamerdad :) It is not out over here on CD though, and we couldn't buy it online because of above reason ;) Luckely an american friend of mine was willing to buy it for me once we'd sent him the money :)

We have a pay-as-you-go credit card that you have to top up first and then you can spend until you've spent the amount on it. However, we can't find the top-up cards for it anywhere, making it a bit difficult. The bank keeps insisting they are at various newsagents throughout Ireland, but can not provide a list of them, and our local newsagent doesn't stock them.
We are going to chase after that a bit more though, it is just getting harder and harder to get things without some sort of credit card.

Probably a good idea then … I love that we've been able to use a debit card linked to our bank account for the past several years - convenience of plastic with the responsibility of cash …

There are 3 more RPG games for the PSP in the next time. :)
February: Monster Kingdom - Jewel Summoner
March: Valhalla Knights (EBGames list it)
April: Riviera (okay it's a gba-port)

And I hope Disgaea Portable and Jeanne d'Arc will launch in the USA this year, too. :)

Thanks for the reminders … I'll mention most of those in my next article in a couple of weeks :)

I have heard that Joan of Arc is planned for this year, but haven't seen a date (don't know if they even have a publisher yet!). We can only hope!

Sony published Jeanne d'Arc in Japan. So I think Sony will publish the game in USA and europe, too.

I have been using a mastercard debit card from my bank for awhile and I have noticed that most banks (in the US atleast) use simular cards. If your bank doesn't maybe you should switch banks.